The present invention is directed to a system and method for interfacing/communicating with a prosthetic/orthotic device or accessory and for the collection, processing, display, storage, and/or management of data related thereto. More particularly, present invention is directed to a system and method for interfacing with and performing one or more such functions with respect to a single prosthetic/orthotic device or accessory or to a number of prosthetic/orthotic devices and/or accessories of a prosthetic/orthotic system. Certain embodiments of the present invention may also be capable of programming, configuring, testing and/or evaluating prosthetic/orthotic devices and/or accessories of a prosthetic/orthotic system. Data relating thereto may be communicated via various tools and/or reports to a patient, prosthetist, orthotist, and/or others.
As the degree of technical sophistication of prosthetic and/or orthotic devices (hereinafter “PO devices”) and accessories advances, the need to provide users with the ability to monitor and/or control such PO devices increases. While simple remote controls and other interface devices capable of allowing access to a single PO device are known, utilizing this method of communication in the case of multiple PO devices would require the carrying and use of multiple remote controls/interfaces. Obviously, this is not a practical solution. Further, systems comprising multiple PO devices, i.e., prosthetic and orthotic systems (hereinafter “PO systems”), have become more complex. As such, the need to enable individual PO devices to interact not only with a user, but also with each other, has also become more important.
It would be understood by one skilled in the art that there a considerable number of PO devices in existence. Many other PO devices are undoubtedly in development, or will be developed in the future. Such PO devices will likely continue to increase in complexity. Thus, it can also be understood that there are a multitude of parameters that are, may be, and/or should be, monitored and evaluated during use of such PO devices.
Such a large array of PO devices and parameters advantageously allows for a wide range of PO system designs and configurations (depending on the deficit pattern presented by a given patient). However, as such PO systems become more complex, the number of associated parameters that should be monitored and evaluated greatly increases. Further, the parameters of individual PO devices may affect or depend on the parameters of one or more other individual PO devices when used in a PO system. For at least these reasons, it has become highly desirable, if not necessary, to reevaluate the mechanisms and methods of communication with individual PO devices, as well as with and between PO devices of PO systems.
It is possible to provide access to one or more PO devices with a device such as a known hand held remote control. However, the level of sophistication of current and future PO devices would render it difficult, if not impossible, to fully realize the configuration, optimization, and/or feedback possibilities afforded by such PO devices and PO systems when using such a simplistic interface mechanism. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a clinician and/or other interested parties with patient tools that will allow for a more complete and organized ability to create useful configurations and access device and system data relating thereto.
Providing such tools is a technically challenging proposition, however. For example, in a very simple exemplary application, a single remote control device may communicate with a single evacuation device of a prosthesis having a vacuum suspension system. This may allow for functions such as monitoring the state of charge of a power source associated with the evacuation device, adjusting vacuum levels, and activation/deactivation of the evacuation device and/or other related components. In a more complicated system, a similar remote might communicate with two prosthetic legs which, in turn, communicate with each other and with a personal computer. With respect to communication with a personal computer, the timing of the communications may only need to be time stamped in some manner so that it could be reconstructed at a later time. The data communicated to the remote control may not be time sensitive at all. However, the communication timing between the two prosthetic limbs would need to be determinant so that the control data passed therebetween could be used for timing sensitive control functions. Consequently, it is important to realize that in order for the data between the two exemplary prosthetic legs to be temporally determinant, all the communications between all the PO devices associated therewith will need to comply with enforced communication timing.
Unfortunately, many standard network protocols cannot or do not enforce such communication timing. In effect, most protocols simply assure that a message sent will arrive at its destination—but not mandate when the message will arrive. Further complicating matters, is the fact that most PO systems are battery powered and, therefore, are very sensitive to power consumption. Therefore, while a known and common method for enabling the transmission of time critical messages is to continuously maintain an open high-speed communications link, this is not practical in the case of a battery-powered PO device which must talk to multiple other PO devices.
Furthermore, as more and more consumer electronic devices embrace wireless communication technologies, it becomes increasingly likely that multiple devices in a given location will be simultaneously communicating using wireless devices that transmit in the same frequency band. As a result, interference and possible eavesdropping become a potential problem. In the case of PO devices, where reliability and privacy are both significant concerns, this issue must also be addressed.
As PO devices and PO systems become more sophisticated, they gain desirable capabilities. However, these added capabilities come at the cost of added complexity. Therefore, proper adjustment, maintenance, and monitoring of PO devices and PO systems comprised thereof, may require the evaluation of significant amounts of data. To properly enable access to and use of such data, it would be useful to provide tools that simplify these tasks.
It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that the ability to remotely interface with a PO device(s) is desirable for many reasons. However, as PO systems are generally configured for a particular patient, it is obvious that the settings in which PO devices and PO systems are used may vary greatly. Consequently, remote control devices for use as described herein may require different types of interfaces for different types of PO devices. To provide for this ability, it would be desirable for such a remote control device to have at least certain components that are of an easily reconfigurable design.
As noted previously, microprocessor-controlled and/or other modern PO devices offer a great amount flexibility in PO system design, as well as the ability to monitor, collect and report a wide range of data applicable to the use thereof. Prosthetic/orthotic components such as for example, prosthetic sockets, typically have many variable parameters associated therewith. A complete prosthesis/orthosis may have several such components. Human factors such as weight, height, activity level, etc., may also vary considerably from patient-to-patient and from prosthesis-to-prosthesis. Consequently, simple measurement of parameters such as vacuum level, vacuum variation, cadence, etc., may not necessarily allow a clinician to adequately evaluate or adjust the performance of a PO device or PO system. It can be understood, therefore, that the data provided by PO devices may be extremely useful with respect to determining and/or optimizing the fit, performance, etc., of a PO device or PO system. As such, and because the amount of data recorded by a PO device between visits to a clinician may be quite significant, it would be useful to allow a clinician or another user to download data from a PO device or one or more PO devices of a PO system to another device for documentation, viewing and analysis.